Arts & International Affairs: Vol. 4, No. 2, Autumn 2019 | Page 7

ARTS & INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
dernities: its wars, destructions, and upheavals; its humanism and religions; and its sense
of community�Silesian, German, Polish, East European, and now that of the European
Union. Wroclaw welcomes internal and external migrants. The restoration of the Jewish
life and the White Stork Synagogue in the city stands in contrast to the anti-Semitic
incidents elsewhere in the country. It rightfully earned its place in 2016 as a European
Capital of Culture.
Another set of essays reflects on the glues and fissures of cosmopolitanism. Saeed bin
Mohammed forwards a discussion of cosmopolitanism as a “theoretical framework” but
one that attends to issues of justice, openness, and inclusion through the post-war figure
of UNESCO. Renée Marlin-Bennett speaks to the borders that cosmopolitanism traverses.
She describes the “the emotional resonances of borders, the places in which one
ontology�one state of being�is exchanged for or gives way to or is taken over by another.”
Border art addresses these overlaps. Both Saeed bin Mohammed and Renée Marlin-Bennett
write with a strong sense of justice and politics. Marlin-Bennett concludes:
“Border art power is subtle; its reach is limited. Yet it captures how individuals engage
in micro-global politics and how those practices change the way people think and feel.”
The city is a central figure in the geographies of cosmopolitanism. The essays in this volume
visit urban representations from several dimensions�temporally, spatially, architecturally.
Wroclaw and Sarajevo provide contrasting and overlapping perspectives. The
14 short essays on Wroclaw attest to its resilience through time, its destruction during
the second World War and rejuvenation thereafter, and its subsequent transformation
into a pan-European city after the fall of the Soviet led communist bloc. The incredible
part of Wroclaw’s story�here retold through the editorial vision of the city’s Mayor Rafał
Dutkiewicz (2002–2018)�is its ability to project itself into the progressive reaches
of the twenty-first century while not forgetting its cultural past. Benjamin Barber’s If
Mayors Ruled the World (2013) introduces Rafał Dutkiewicz with these words about his
pragmatic vision: “The mayor is hardly everything, but pragmatism and a preoccupation
with problem-solving rather than posturing can make a crucial difference” (ibid.:91).
Two texts in this issue�from Joanna Zielińska and Sascha Priewe�go further into the
critical dimension of cities. While the 14 essays on Wroclaw visit the city’s past, present,
and future through diverse perspectives, Joanna Zielińska visits the medieval city of Sarajevo
literally through a different lens. Her documentary and commentary present Sarajevo
through the voices of six women and the feminine narrative that is often overlooked
in the cultural histories of cities. Sascha Priewe discusses the cultural roots of cities to
then address the pathologies they face. He writes that “to deal with the challenges that
cities and the world are facing, to stem the populist tide and to manage life alongside
one another in the densest and most connected human agglomerations, a systematic
and holistic approach to culture and its global dimensions needs to happen.” The way
to move forward is through networks of cultural diplomacy. The World Cities Culture
Forum is an example.
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